It's Cold Outside
by bbybear85
Summary: 1xR Holiday Oneshot 2015


**I do not own Gundam Wing.**

Relena could feel the motion of her head falling back in peels of laughter, but she couldn't bring herself to stop it. All composure was lost.

She was, at least, grateful that she trusted her companion.

"So I guess I was right," he said in his best deadpan tone, as he closed the topic at hand. Clearly the President of the ESUN could not, actually, be trusted with a loaded gun for his own protection.

Her amusement faded into a slowing chuckle as she wiped the joyful tears from her eyes. Heero, of course, did not offer her a smile, per se, but there was a twinkle in his eye that showed his enjoyment of her response. He'd intended this.

"Who knew you could make me laugh so hard?" She asked through the burning of her cheeks and ears.

He raised his head calmly. "I did."

The blonde gave him a coy grin and turned her eyes back to her eggnog.

"It's not that hard," he added, as though it was a given fact in the equation.

"That's not what other people your age have been saying," she answered, leaning back into the plush arm of the couch as she tucked her bare feet under her. By 'your age', they both knew she was commenting on people her own age, though she would rather not say quite that. Having met Heero when she was so young, she knew that their births had only been months apart, although she was sure they would never know his actual birth _day._ Of course, it didn't matter. Heero would choose a date and forge it to any document he needed, whenever he elected to exist on paper.

Heero watched her for several moments before saying anything. He tended to take long pauses. Perhaps, she'd mused, it added to his enigmatic presence. "You shouldn't listen to opinions like that. They're nothing like you."

Her smile twisted slightly as she questioned her approval of the statement.

"Not everyone," he clarified for her sake. "Shares the maturity of your worldview."

"Hm." She sipped at the drink, again, rolling her eyes away in thought. "How fortunate for them," she responded in a sarcastic tone. When her gaze fell back to him, he was staring with no sign of emotion or response.

She lost herself, again, in his dark eyes. Something about the midnight color left her both unsettled and secure in the same moments. The sensation was not unlike that of being locked into a theme park ride. She could not escape or fall away, but she could not persuade herself that she wanted away, at all. She was safe, but his attention on her was thrilling, like anything could happen next.

Anything _could_ happen, she knew, but not tonight.

Maybe.

Maybe not tonight.

 _Probably_ not.

Still. The possibility made her feel alive.

She didn't ever want him to leave, but she knew she would let him. She always did.

"I should go," he said, rather abruptly, as she'd predicted just seconds before.

It was time.

Relena nodded slowly, closing her eyes. "It's twenty degrees below zero," she said, surprising herself.

Had she just chosen to argue her case? _Well, there is,_ she thought to herself, _a first time for everything._

"I really can't stay," he responded looking casually toward the door, but not putting down his empty glass.

"But it's cold," she rebutted, again, as if from instinct.

"I've got to go." His brows came up slightly, but he still made no motion.

She pursed her lips in disappointment, but said nothing further. He seemed to be lost in thought. Heero, of course, was a very introspective person, by her observation, but there were these moments of extra intensity when his eyes would glaze over just a slight bit, like he was debating something.

"This evening has been nice," he added aloud. After another few seconds he turned his stare back onto her, clarifying that he was, in fact, addressing her and not himself. "I almost didn't come."

She held his attention with a demure and matronly gaze. "That's what she said."

Heero's lip twitched upward and parted just enough to see his teeth. She'd won a smile.

Relena bit her lip from both embarrassment and an urge to control her gloating smirk.

"Actually," he answered her, with a serious frown. "I never get that complaint."

Her eyes snapped wide open and her face flushed to the roots of her blonde hair. Relena afforded herself the effort, in the moment, not to picture what he'd said, but-her imagination overran her. In response, she squeezed her eyes shut, again, trying to wipe the exotic reproductions from her mind, but she failed. Blood rushed to every part of her, pumping her full of adrenaline and other hormones, and wracking her body with sensations that she was most certainly sure she should _not_ be feeling with him in the room. Trying to regain control, she was forced to turn her face away for embarrassment.

After watching her with amusement for several minutes, Heero reached out and touched the back of her hand with his. Relena jumped, at first, but calmed herself under his scrutiny. She took back control by touching him in kind.

"Your hands are like ice," she said, studying the rough edges. "You shouldn't go out there." A small glimmer on her face alerted him that she'd taken back the argument.

Heero settled back into the couch, again, and retracted his hand. "You know how Sally worries," he commented, turning his attention back to the door. "Wufei paces when she gets like that." His eyes fell to the empty glass, still in his other hand. "Irritating," he commented as if to himself.

Relena turned her attention to the flames opposite her from his position. "Shh," she whispered.

Heero looked, also, at the dancing tongues of fire.

In the other room, an antique record needle ran off of the music programming and began whispering white noises and repetitive pops. All that was left was the crackling of the fire.

"It's a roar if you listen long enough."

He said nothing. She slowly turned over her shoulder and found he was studying her, instead of the flames. Relena blushed slightly, but gave him a confident poker face.

"Much warmer than the whipping winds of the outside weather."

His glare lightened noticeably, as though she'd altered his mood for the better.

"I should go," he answered, looking at the glass, again.

Arguing with Heero was like a long game of chess. There were moment when he would say something, and it felt as though he'd lifted a piece to move, but you had to wait for the tail end before you knew which direction he was steering the knight, queen, or rook.

"Maybe," he added in a less secure voice, "just half a drink more."

Relena beamed, pulling her bare toes free and tossing them onto the floor, so she could moved closer and fill his glass. She watched him with a rapt expression. "I can't believe this is the first time you've had eggnog," she commented with a playful pout.

He licked his lip slowly and watched the thick cream swirl in the cup. "Seems if you drink too much you'll end up with a stomach ache."

"Yes," she answered, looking needlessly thoughtful. "It's more a dessert than a beverage, per se."

Heero stood without being asked and paced to the record player, placing the needle carefully back at the beginning of the track. Christmas carols filled the air. Relena draped her arm across the back of the couch as he made his way back and leaned into her shoulder as she watched him.

Heero faltered slightly in his step, examining her countenance and the room before sinking back down into the couch beside her. "If I'm seen leaving his house in the morning, your neighbors-"

"Let them think what they want. I don't particularly care."

He frowned. "That's not true," he answered her.

Relena glanced back up in surprise.

"You don't care _to_ care. That's not the same as not caring."

"You mean I only _wish_ I didn't care what people think?"

He tilted his head just a fraction. "You didn't take well to the rumor about you and Dorothy having a sexual relationship."

Relena flushed at just the memory. She bit her lip, fighting the frustration, so she could answer him clearly. The matter had long since passed, but even the thought of it-

 _Of course,_ she realized. He was right. How did he-?

"You weren't there," she thought aloud.

Reining the topic to his will, Heero continued with his observation before she could inquire as to how he'd come to know her response to a drama he hadn't been around for. "In your heart you know it's illogical to respond to rumors like those, but that doesn't change how you feel when they make headlines. Underneath your Elven armor, you're still a woman. You have feelings. And I won't be responsible for a rumor like that."

Following suit, she also took back her original concern. "You cannot ride that motorcycle in this weather, and we don't have cabs out in these parts. You'd have to order a limousine, and they're closed for the holidays."

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you know that," he said, allowing her to feel self-conscious, again, though they both knew he didn't actually care about the class of the transportation service she hired.

It only took Relena another moment to realize he was just picking on her about the limos.

"This drink. This isn't the one with the rum?"

"It is not," she answered confidently. "Virgin."

His eyes flashed to her when she said the word.

Refusing to show any sign of being flustered, she continued. "Grocery store quality. I wouldn't spike your beverage."

"Hn." He raised the cup to his lips, again.

He glanced back and she lost herself in his gaze. "Your eyes," she whispered.

He didn't answer or dissuade her. He let her stare, openly at him, looking neither disapproving nor abashed. He looked almost, she realized, like he was watching her in return.

Heero's expression softened as she drew in closer to him. His irises were like the night sky, twinkling in the firelight like the stars might dance in the galaxies above and around them. He made her feel the same way, every time she came close to him. Like she was there, again, on Libra, watching him move away from her into the darkness. As though her touch might pull him back down, if only she could bring herself to reach out and touch-even kiss him.

Heero moved his head back, again, suddenly regaining inches of the lost distance between them. How close had he let her come to him, this time?

"I should-" His words trailed off, but he tipped his head as if to gesture that he was leaving.

Relena tried to nod in agreement, but her body felt frozen before him.

"I simply must." He stopped, again, his eyes still trained on her. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something, but she'd never know what. Heero was not forthcoming with his inner demons. "The answer's no," he said, again, though she knew she wasn't begging or even arguing, any longer. Not out loud, anyway. "The welcome has been warm. I just-" His voice faded yet a fourth time, but he didn't turn from her.

Relena, feeling the pressure of his stare, allowed her eyes to drift to the window by the door. "It's snowing, again," she commented.

"I know," he answered plainly, and turned his body further from the exit.

Relena silently lifted herself onto her feet and meandered toward a window where she could see the front lawn, more clearly. Heero's bike was barely invisible under a snow drift.

The blonde jumped when she felt his touch on her shoulder. She spun to face him and crashed right into his chest, gasping in surprise. "I didn't hear you," she spit out, fumbling for an explanation for why he was now holding her up, against him.

She found her footing, again, but his grip on her shoulders didn't loosen.

His focus seemed to move fluidly from studying her features to looking past her or through her. "Hilde will be suspicious," he said, as if to himself.

"Hilde's just a romantic," Relena chuckled to herself, boring her stare into his chest. She could see nothing but the very fibers of his shirt before her, unable to broaden her focus or process much, if any, thought.

"I don't know," he answered her.

Relena wondered about what essentials had been used in the making of his cologne. He only used the barest amount, so he wasn't easily recognized when he entered a room, but this was the closest she had ever been to his body, and the scent enveloped her.

"Duo's the one who's always waiting at the door. Hilde-no. Hilde's mind is vicious."

At the [presumably unintended] cue, Relena's thoughts evolved from studying his smell to wondering if he sprayed the cologne on his shirt or his bare chest, and then to how one could go about finding out. Another mirage of him without clothing took her mind and she blushed.

Hilde wasn't the only one.

Heero's grip on her shoulder tightened just enough to draw her attention back to him. He was frowning at her thoughtfully. There was a sense of urgency in his eyes.

Relena's stare, however, drifted free from his own and fell onto his lips. She licked and bit hers, trying impotently not to think about how his kiss might just feel and taste.

"It's a blizzard," she finally forced herself to say, holding her head up, again and without shame, as though her baser thoughts only moments before had never touched her mind. "You can't honestly consider going out, now. Not on that motorcycle. You didn't even bring a coat, Heero."

The man blinked, looking surprised at the fact that he'd come that afternoon without a coat. He knew there was a storm coming, so how was it that he might have forgotten his own jacket? He had always had an excellent mind for detail. It's not like he had planned this situation.

Not-consciously.

He looked, at her, again, as though seeing her for the first time that night.

He hadn't. Had he?

His hands were still on her shoulders. He loosened his grip, but he didn't release her.

"You'll freeze," he heard her say. Relena reached for his face, looking concerned. "It's up to your knees out there."

Suddenly he intercepted her touch, seizing her hand in his.

A thrill went through Relena's body, pooling in her belly when he did it. She moved to pull back, but he only turned her hand in his, pinning it against his chest as he spread his fingertips out, across her palm, and pressed them between her knuckles.

His eyes searched hers furiously with a new question she'd never known, before.

"There's going to be talk, tomorrow," he stated as if to warn her of a coming storm. "You know what they'll imply?"

"Yes," she said softly as she felt him move closer, still, to her.

"And?"

The proposition hung in the air, making it hard to breathe and even harder to think.

"Heero?"

" _And?_ " He asked, again.

Relena swallowed, closing her eyes. Her entire body trembled against him.

Her breath was weak and filled with anticipation. Something so foreign, and yet so familiar clouded her mind.

"Yes," she finally voiced under her breath. "Yes."

His free hand laced around her waist and pulled her into his frame as he closed his lips over hers. He tasted so sweet and warm, it almost hurt as he pulled away just for a moment.

"It's cold outside," she heard him say as he lifted her into his arms and kissed her, again.

* * *

AN: Happy Holidays, ladies and gents. ^_^


End file.
